The decision by Circuit Judge Robert P. Cates was the latest in a recent string of challenges to Florida's statutory rape law, which prohibits adults from having sex with minors under 16.
Assistant Public Defender Joann Humburg, who contended that the case against Kelvin Cartwright was unconstitutional, said she will appeal.
Because Florida courts have granted minors the right to decide to have abortions, minors also can consent to sexual intercourse, she argued.
But Cates said the state has a compelling interest in enforcing the statutory rape law.
"An adult who has intercourse with a child under the age of 16 is likely to be sexually exploiting that child," he wrote.
"Sexual intercourse can have irreversible emotional and physical consequences, not the least of which are pregnancy and disease.
"A child is less likely than an adult to appreciate fully these risks."
Assistant State Attorney John Stokes said the law isn't designed to prevent minors from consenting to sex, but to keep adults from preying on children.
Prosecutors took the case after the girl's mother complained.
"A minor can always consent to sex," Stokes said. "It's just that we as a society can punish some adults for taking advantage of that."
Cartwright is presumed to be the father of a fetus the girl, now 14, is carrying, according to Cates' order.
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